All-day care for elementary school children: Expansion still needed in western Germany

From the 2029/2030 school year onwards, this will apply to all year groups in primary schools. All states in eastern Germany and Hamburg will be able to fulfil this right with this without further expansion of their childcare infrastructure. The decline in the number of children can be expected to be sufficient to close the existing small gaps between the childcare needs expressed by parents and the current full-day childcare rate completely. Moreover, it seems unlikely that there could actually be a large number of parents in these states who are unable to find full-day childcare for their children. In some of these states, state law already provides for full-day childcare for primary school children that goes beyond the level of the GaFöG.

The situation is different in the rest of western Germany. Based on parents' childcare preferences in 2024, a total of 149,700 full-day places would need to be created there to meet demand in the 2029/2030 school year. Of these, 45,300 would be necessary in North Rhine-Westphalia and 42,300 in Bavaria. However, relative to the number of children of primary school the gap arising without further expansion would be greatest in Schleswig-Holstein at 10 per cent, followed by Bremen at 9 per cent and Bavaria at 8 per cent. This does not take into account the fact that existing all-day care facilities do not always fully meet the requirements of the GaFöG. This applies in particular to the holidays, for which the GaFöG allows a maximum interruption of four weeks in the provision of care. However, many of the all-day schools in western Germany are limited to school days, making it necessary to have a separate supplementary holiday care infrastructure, which may be subject to greater bottlenecks.

If, instead of the needs expressed by parents, a value of 75 per cent is chosen as a reference point – this is close to both the current level of all-day care of 77 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt, which ranks last among the states with no need for expansion, and the demand rate of 74 per cent in Saarland, which ranks first among the states with a need for expansion – a total of 570,900 additional childcare places would be required in the states with expansion needs, of which 204,300 would have to be created in Bavaria. Bavaria stands out sharply with a full-day childcare rate for primary school-aged children of only 34 per cent in 2024. At the same time, the demand rate of 43 per cent is just about on a par with the current level of 42 per cent in Schleswig-Holstein, which is second to last. The states with low demand rates should examine whether the institutional design of their full-time childcare services – especially with regard to parental contributions – is attractive to families or inhibits take-up. The latter should be counteracted, as full-day childcare not only helps to reconcile family and work life but also creates opportunities for children's development and participation.